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GovTech Innovation Day 2025: Turning bold vision into scalable impact
18 December 2025
How can innovation move beyond ideas to create real-world impact? Discover key takeaways from GovTech Innovation Day 2025, highlighting the importance of strengthening digital foundations, empowering officers with AI tools, and leveraging technology to better serve citizens.
On 13 November, the Sands Expo and Convention Centre buzzed with the energy of public officers, industry leaders, and tech enthusiasts gathered for GovTech Innovation Day 2025.
More than just a conference, the event focused on a critical theme for the coming year: turning bold digital visions into real, scalable impact for Singapore. From packed demo booths to insightful keynotes, the day was dedicated to showcasing products and prototypes, exchanging ideas, and asking the hard questions that drive meaningful transformation in the public sector.
Here are the key highlights and takeaways.
Upgrading the Pipes: A Call to Strengthen Foundations
Speaker: Ms Jasmin Lau, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and Minister-in-charge of GovTech Singapore
The event kicked off with an Opening Address by Ms. Jasmin Lau, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and Minister-in-charge of GovTech Singapore. She set the stage by emphasising that real innovation begins with laying the foundations that power our digital future.
Ms. Lau highlighted that transformation relies on systems, data, and people rather than just new tools. She outlined three priorities for the public service:
Modernising Legacy Systems: Ms. Lau highlighted the urgency of updating legacy infrastructure to better deliver services to citizens. She noted that modernising our systems is not an easy task, but it is essential to create flexible, scalable, resilient and secure systems that can grow with us in years to come.
Data as the Backbone of AI: Addressing the buzz around Artificial Intelligence, Ms. Lau reminded the audience that AI is only as effective as the data fueling it. She stressed the importance of improving data quality, security, and accessibility, to help us make better and more informed decisions.
Uplifting Digital Capabilities: Finally, she championed the "people" aspect of transformation. Ms. Lau encouraged officers—regardless of their technical role—to embrace continuous learning and pick up new skills to improve their daily workflows.
Watch her full opening address here.
From Vision to Action: Making Innovation Practical
Speaker: Mr Goh Wei Boon, Chief Executive of GovTech Singapore
Following the Minister's opening address, Mr Goh Wei Boon, Chief Executive of GovTech, emphasised in his keynote, "From Vision to Action", that innovation is not about creating flashy products but about solving real problems.
He outlined how GovTech put this into practice through three key thrusts:
Creating Time for Innovation: Free up time by using AI tools to automate repetitive tasks, thereby creating the capacity for higher-value work and experimentation.
Empowering Staff with 'Vibe-Coding': Deep technical skills are no longer required to create new solutions. 'Vibe-coding' now empowers non-technical domain experts, the people closest to the problem, to build working prototypes simply by describing their needs in plain language to AI. This shift democratises the innovation process, placing the power to build and experiment directly into the hands of more public officers. Programmes like the LAUNCH! hackathon then provide technical support and structured pathways for promising ideas to be further developed and deployed.
Fostering the Right Culture: Tools are only one part of the equation; the other crucial element is a cultural shift. This requires leaders to provide safe spaces for experimentation and encourage teams to collaborate across domains to identify and solve the right problems.
With the right tools, culture, and support, innovation is within reach for everyone willing to try.
Catch up on his keynote here.
Real Tools Solving Real Problems
Beyond the stage, the exhibition floor demonstrated how GovTech brought these concepts to life. Teams across GovTech showcased a wide array of tools designed to improve how the government serves citizens and supports public officers.
Among the highlights were Transcribe, GovEntry, Career Kaki, and AI Guardian — each demonstrating how practical applications of technology are already making a measurable difference on the ground.
Together, these showcases underscored a simple truth: innovation is not just about bold ideas but about solving real problems.
The Grand Finale: Prompt Royale Agency League
The day concluded with high energy at the Prompt Royale Agency League Finale. This competitive showcase celebrated hands-on AI creativity, challenging participants to apply prompting skills to real-world public sector scenarios.
The finalists impressed judges with clear problem framing and structured prompts that generated quality results. The competition served as a powerful demonstration of where AI adoption is heading, moving beyond simple usage to skillful direction of technology.
Looking Ahead to 2026
GovTech Innovation Day 2025 served as a powerful reminder that innovation is continuous, not episodic. As we look toward 2026, the focus remains clear: modernising legacy systems, ensuring strong data governance, and empowering people are the keys to enabling innovation at scale.
We thank everyone for being part of this journey. Let’s keep building Singapore’s digital future together, one innovation at a time.
Missed It Live? Catch the Best Moments Here
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